In addition to you, how did everything get here? What about the plants, the animals, the mountains, the desserts, the world as a whole and everything that is known to us in the universe?

Why is there something, rather than nothing at all? There are four possible answers to why we have something rather than nothing at all:

1. It's all an illusion.
2. It was self-created.
3. It is self-existent (eternal).
4. It was created by something that is self-existent. 

1. It's all an illusion

This option has kind of a Twilight Zone feel to it. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this one. If you hold this view, you might as well stop reading this page because the rest of it presupposes that reality is not an illusion. I'll just say, illusions require something experiencing the illusion, and you cannot doubt the existence of yourself without proving your existence, it's a self-defeating argument. So the possibility of reality being an illusion is eliminated. 

2. It was self-created

If reality created itself, then it must have existed prior to it creating itself, but that simply cannot be. This is another argument that collapses on itself. Once you exist, you can't create yourself because you already exist. This is sometimes referred to as 'spontaneous generation' -something coming from nothing-a position that few, if any, reasonable people hold to anymore, simply because you cannot get something from nothing. 

3. It is self-existent (eternal)

At this point we've eliminated the first two options. We're left with saying that either the universe is eternal (always existed) or the universe was created by an eternal being. I'd like to take a quote from NASA.gov it reads "Somewhere around 13.7 billion years ago, a massive explosion threw matter around in all directions, and the universe was born. At least, that is what most scientists agree happened. Although this big-bang theory is accepted widely, it is difficult to prove with 100 percent certainty." 

Scientists almost all agree that the universe had a beginning. This is commonly referred to as "The Big Bang." The question then becomes, "Doesn't a big bang require a big banger?" This common ground of a beginning point makes sense because there cannot be an infinite number of past events, there must be a starting point.  

Look at it this way, imagine an infinite number of dominoes falling over, one after another. If each domino represents one second of time, there can't be an infinite number of them extending into the past. There wouldn't be a first domino to start the process, therefore the second one wouldn't fall nor would the third etc. So none of them would fall. Therefore an actual infinite number of successive events in the past is logically impossible. 

Take an infinite number of marbles and divide them in half, you would have two sets of marbles. How much would be in each set? Each set would now have an infinite amount in it, which means we have two infinite sets instead of one. 

This shows that an actual infinite cannot exist in reality. You cannot divide something in half and end up with twice as much as when you started. It just doesn't make sense. Therefore, there couldn't have been an infinite number of previous moments, so the universe must have begun to exist. The fact that the universe began to exist therefore implies that something brought it into existence, it's Creator. 

Former atheist Lee Strobel, who arrived at this end result many years ago, has commented: "Essentially, I realized that to stay an atheist, I would have to believe that nothing produces everything; non-life produces life; randomness produces fine-tuning; chaos produces information; unconsciousness produces consciousness; and non-reason produces reason." 

Now there is a popular objection- Atheists say this argument only moves the question back a step. They now ask, "Who made God? How did He come into existence?" That is a fair question. I would ask, "If the world came into existence through the Big Bang, what caused the Big Bang?" Again we're faced with an infinite regress. There must be an eternal creator. 

4. It was created by something that is self-existent.

Now that we know that someone or something started it all, can we learn anything about the creator by looking at the creation? In other words, can we understand the cause by its effects? Yes, by examining the following characteristics:

• The creator must be eternal.
  

• The creator must be incredibly powerful.
  

• The creator must be supremely intelligent. (Only intelligence can produce intelligence)
  

• The creator must be omnipresent. (He created space and is not limited by it)
  

• The creator must be timeless and changeless. (He created time)
  

• The creator must be personal. (The impersonal cannot create personality)
  

• The creator must be infinite and singular. (You cannot have two infinites)
  

• The creator must be diverse, yet have unity. (Unity and diversity exist in nature)
  

• The creator must be moral. (No moral law without a moral law giver)
  

• The creator must be caring. (No moral laws would have been given)
  

 This is precisely how the Bible, written thousands of years ago, describes God.